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Soap Star Touts Foster Parenthood

Actress Victoria Rowell of "The Young and the Restless" stopped by The Early Show plaza Monday to help spread the word about this being National Foster Care Month.

There's a pressing need for more people to become foster parents for the 518,000 young people in foster care in the United States.

Rowell, who founded Rowell Foster Children's Positive Plan in 1990, says her group is "going across the country with 31 pieces of original artwork by foster and adopted youth. We started at the Museum of Contemporary Art. We were at the Children's Museum in Manhattan (Sunday); (we have stops scheduled in) Maine, Massachusetts, Baltimore, Hawaii, to show America that they can step up."

At the moment, there are only some 120,000 foster parents in the U.S.

"Everyone is equipped to help," Rowell stressed. "You can be a single-parent home. You don't have to be married. You don't have to have a fat bankroll. You just need love and patience.

"There is compensation. You're not gonna get rich off of foster care. But we implore you to call your local department of children and family services or the . Call 1-888-799-KIDS. Please help our American children."

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